Old Barrow Street furniture warehouse to become shop, offices

Sunday

HOUMA -- They called one part of the decrepit old building "the jungle" and another part "the dungeon." The whole thing, the new owners said, was an eyesore.

An 80-year-old furniture warehouse on Barrow Street -- only last month covered in vines like crumbling Roman ruins -- is now being rescued from the brink of extinction after its purchase by the owners of next-door All Print Unlimited, who plan to make it a new frontier of downtown redevelopment.

Property records show the building’s first owner as Allen Ellender in the early 1920s. Downtown historian Tommy Cobb says he believes that original owner was the late U.S. senator, who at the time would have been an attorney and owned lots of property.

It served as a grocery until 1937, when it was bought by two Arceneauxs and converted to a dry cleaners.

In 1960, furniture dealer John Rizzo bought the building, giving it the sign that still hangs in front. The Rizzo business moved to the other side of the block, however, and John Rizzo sold the business and the building to his son, Johnny Rizzo, in the late 1970s. From that point, the old building was only used for storage, Johnny Rizzo said.

In between the old and new Rizzo buildings, Beth Matherne has operated her All Print Unlimited printing shop for the past 13 years. All that time, she said, she has loved the old Rizzo building, which she personally nicknamed the "Alamo building" for its architectural style. Rizzo recently decided to sell the building, and, after a flurry of conversations with her bankers, Matherne bought it with her husband, Nathan "Black" Matherne.

Over the years of disuse, the elements had tried to retake the building. Rainwater found weaknesses in the ceiling and rotted the wood in the building underneath. Vines consumed large sections of the walls. Trees grew up around the building, breaking the floors with their roots.

"Tree roots were all around, like giant pythons, running 40 feet," Black Matherne said. "It was taking over the facility. You had to walk through grass and vines, everything."

Some of the smaller outbuildings were unsalvageable, but the Mathernes saw the beauty underneath, complemented by an essentially sound structure, they said. After only a month of demolition, the foliage has been removed, and the building is starting to retake some of its former glory.

The renovation has come with some unexpected surprises. In one wall, they found a Buddha statue, which they’ve been reluctant to move for the chance of bad luck. In boxes stored for decades in the building, Beth Matherne found a treasure trove of photos that may be as old as the building itself.

As far as they know, the original building plans are long lost, so there is no way to do a complete historic restoration. Instead, the couple is trying to find elements that match what they see in the building. For example, Black Matherne said he traveled to an old parachute plant in Columbia, Miss., to find the right style bubble-glass windows, and he bought heavy old cypress doors for the entrances.

"I did not want to change my windows," Beth Matherne said. "I want it very original. … I like old town; I like old buildings."

The exterior will have one update -- a balcony over Barrow Street to take advantage of Mardi Gras. One question still unanswered is the color of the outside -- Beth said she is considering a brownish or tan paint, but said she is open to suggestions.

"It will help dress up Barrow Street," Black Matherne said. "It will help enrich these areas for a better look."

The building’s inside -- nearly 6,500 square feet -- will see the most change. The entire downstairs will house All Print’s business, with new offices for some of their silk-screening and embroidery specialists who won’t fit in the current location.

Upstairs, the plans become even more grandiose. The Mathernes plan to rent out five offices, with a large common area in the front and a small antiques display room in the rear. Possible tenants include an attorney and an art gallery, they said. And once they move out of the small building they now occupy, that building will be for rent, too.

"It’s a good thing for everybody," said Johnny Rizzo, noting he was glad to let the building go because his sentimental attachment is only to the corner building he is now in. "It will improve all our property values."

The makeover the Mathernes plan is similar to several renovations downtown and reflects a growing move to reuse the city’s old buildings for new purposes, said Tommy Guarisco, who is renovating the old parish government building next to the courthouse. Further, with its location on the edge of the downtown area, their influence is likely to widen the scope of the redevelopment boom, he said.

The boom is surely fueled in part by a strong local economy, with heavy oilfield growth bolstering the other sectors, Guarisco said. At the same time, business owners are becoming more savvy about the possible uses of downtown buildings, and the new role they play in modern cities.

"The home of every city is its downtown area, and they’re bringing it back, city by city," Guarisco said.

As retail left the downtowns of yore for malls, and more recently suburban strip malls, city centers began to decay. In recent years, however, property owners have begun buying the old buildings and combing inside them office space and cultural offerings, such as the art galleries or antiques shops that Guarisco and the Mathernes plan. Restaurants and pubs are also part of the mix, and events like Downtown Live After 5 get the word out, Guarisco said.

The development downtown and that on large commercial stretches is no longer in competition, Guarisco continued. Instead, they complement each other, making the entire city a stronger whole.

The next bright spot on the horizon for downtown development will be the construction of a brick walkway on Bayou Terrebonne, which Guarisco said he hopes will spur property owners to renovate their buildings’ facades on the bayou, similar to San Antonio.

Beyond the walkway, Guarisco said, the city needs to concentrate on traffic issues. Speed limits need to be lowered to encourage walking, and a parking area should be established to accommodate the growing number of cars.